Chapter 4315 — The Risk Is Enormous

"Forget it. Just register me under your name," Wei Hebei said at last, having made up his mind. The other experts of the Xuan Ascension stage could not help but sigh in unison with regret—a rare seedling of a genius disciple had slipped through their fingers once again.

At these words, the whole crowd burst into an uproar. This hedgehog-haired fellow was the second lucky soul after Chu Muqing to pass the selection, and what was more, he had entered the school of Wei Hebei, one of the three giants of the Mountain-Opening stage—his future was surely boundless!

Watching from afar as the hedgehog-haired man waved his hand and showed off in smug triumph, Wei Zhao was unimpressed, yet he still asked without betraying any sign of it, "With such extraordinary talent as four-element spiritual roots, and having taken Wei Hebei as his master besides, once this man gets to Morning Star Academy in the Eastern Continent, he ought to be one of the genius disciples singled out for key cultivation, no? Would his standing not be on a par with that of Wang Xinyan, one of the Three Fairies?"

"His four-element spiritual-root talent—calling him a genius is just barely acceptable, but to speak of the academy cultivating him as a key figure is stretching things a bit far, and as for being mentioned in the same breath as Wang Xinyan of the Three Fairies? Then I can only smile and say nothing at all..." Ge Wei laughed at once, the mockery on his face plain for all to see.

"Oh? Is that not how it is?" Wei Zhao said, somewhat puzzled. He himself did not think the hedgehog-haired man would amount to much either, but since Wei Hebei had named him personally, surely a place among the key disciples at Morning Star Academy could not be denied him.

"Of course not. Here he is a genius, but once he goes to Morning Star Academy, he is nothing at all. When all is said and done, he has only four-element spiritual roots, and one of those is a false attribute besides. There are no end of such people at Morning Star Academy. There is nothing remarkable about him in the least," Ge Wei declared with a shake of his head.

"Oh? If talent like his is so common, then why did Wei Hebei take a fancy to him? As a vice-director of the Mountain-Opening stage, his eye ought to be far keener than that of an ordinary instructor, no?" Wei Zhao said, half believing and half doubting.

"That is just what I have been wondering. By rights, a man like this should not catch the eye of a giant of the Mountain-Opening stage—he is no genius with mutated spiritual roots, after all. But the thoughts of great men are hardly for the likes of us to fathom at will. Perhaps Wei Hebei has some other design in mind. I have heard it said that he has not taken a disciple for several years now; perhaps he merely found his school too quiet and wanted someone to make up the numbers—who can say..." Ge Wei mused, stroking his chin.

"Someone to make up the numbers?" At this, Wei Zhao cast a strange glance at the smug hedgehog-haired fellow, and recalling how hesitant Wei Hebei had looked a moment before, he thought there might really be something to it. He could not help but laugh. "If that is truly the case, then for such an absurd reason to have climbed onto Wei Hebei's high branch—he really is a lucky one."

"Lucky?" Ge Wei curled his lip and said dismissively, "Not necessarily. If you really want to talk about strength, this fellow is far inferior to Chu Muqing. A place like Morning Star Academy is a den of hidden dragons and crouching tigers; even Chu Muqing may not fare well there, and must tuck his tail and keep a low profile. Look at this fellow's character, brother—do you think he knows the first thing about keeping a low profile?"

"That would be difficult indeed..." Wei Zhao shook his head again and again. Judging by the hedgehog-haired man's bearing, he looked ready to cock his tail up to the heavens. If even this one understood the meaning of keeping a low profile, the earth would have known peace long ago.

"So you see, this sort of man has no strength to speak of, and no notion of keeping a low profile either. With nothing but four-element spiritual roots to his name, in a lair of dragons and tigers like Morning Star Academy, how much use do you think he will be?" Ge Wei said with a curl of his lip.

"But is he not still Wei Hebei's disciple? Wei Hebei's name ought to carry weight at Morning Star Academy, no?" Wei Zhao said, still perplexed. As the saying went, one must think twice before beating a dog for fear of its master; the hedgehog-haired man was Wei Hebei's disciple, after all—surely he would not be bullied at will?

"Heh heh, Wei Hebei's name can indeed overawe a great many people, but how many of those who can get into Morning Star Academy are truly easy to deal with? Who knows—someone might even make a point of going after a fellow like this, who has a great man at his back but is in truth a soft persimmon, just to make a name for himself!" Ge Wei said with a laugh and a shake of his head.

"That is no small risk. Would anyone really take such a gamble?" Wei Zhao asked curiously.

"Of course they would. You must understand that a sect's cultivation resources are limited in the end—even Morning Star Academy is no exception. When some take more, others naturally take less, and the competition is fierce indeed. And the more someone is hailed as a genius, the more easily he is ganged up on and even eliminated, because that way the cultivation resources freed up for others are all the greater." As he spoke, Ge Wei pursed his lips and pointed at the hedgehog-haired man, saying with utter certainty, "Look at how smug he is now. By the time he gets to Morning Star Academy, he will not even be able to cry. He may well be done in by someone within a few days."

"Done in by someone? Surely not..." Wei Zhao felt a chill at heart. For Wang Xinyan's example was right before him, and he had rather taken it for granted that any genius disciple who went to Morning Star Academy would be directly singled out for key cultivation and rise above the rest. Most of the others present likely held the same view.

"Why not? Brother, do not doubt me—reality is that cruel. I am telling you all this because I feel a kinship with you; with anyone else I would not waste so many words!" Here Ge Wei suddenly grew indignant. "That hedgehog-haired fellow a moment ago was the same—his eyes might as well have been planted on the top of his skull. I kindly offered to sell him the secret manual for passing the assessment, and not only did he turn up his nose at it, he nearly summoned the academy guards and ruined a perfectly good bit of business for me. Otherwise I might have given him a word or two of warning, and at least he would not die quite so quickly. But now—hmph, hmph..."

Only then did Wei Zhao finally understand. No wonder Ge Wei could not stand the sight of that hedgehog-haired fellow, whichever way he looked at him—so there was bad blood between them after all.

"I am not trying to frighten you with alarming talk. Count the geniuses of our Southern Continent who have gone to study at the Eastern Continent's academy over the past hundred years—a thousand at the very least, eight hundred at the lowest—and more than half of them, not long after they arrived, were plotted against and targeted, and in the end even fell." Ge Wei's face was grave and earnest. "In a place like the Eastern Continent's academy, unless one is truly so overbearingly powerful as to crush every other being around him, anyone else must play by the rules of that place. Otherwise, death is truly not far off."